Lake Untersee, November 2008. Dr. Valery Galchenko of the Winogradsky Institute of Microbiology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Russia is seen walking across the lake back to our camp.
Lake Untersee is one of the largest (11.4 km2) and deepest (>160 m) freshwater lakes in East Antarctica. Located at 71•S, the lake has a perennial ice cover that varies in thickness along the main axis of the lake from 2.2 to 3.9 m. With the exception of a small anoxic basin in the southwest of the lake, the water column is generally well mixed, is supersaturated with dissolved oxygen, has a pH of 10.4 and exceedingly high clarity (vertical attenuation coefficient for PAR of 0.033 m-1). While the water column supports little primary production, the floor of the lake has an extensive cover of photosynthetic microbial mat to depths of at least 100 m. For more information, see: Andersen DT, Sumner DY, Hawes I, Webster-Brown J, McKay CP (2011) Discovery of large conical stromatolites in Lake Untersee, Antarctica. Geobiology, 9, 280-293. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1472-4669.2011.00279.x/full
We will be returning to Lake Untersee later this year. Our team members for the 2011 Tawani Antarctic Expedition are:
Dale T. Andersen - Carl Sagan Center for the Study of Life in the Universe, SETI Institute
Christopher P. McKay - NASA Ames Research Center
Valery Galchenko - Winogradsky Institute of Microbiology, Moscow,
Ian Hawes, University of Canterbury, NZ
Valdimir Akimov - Skryabin Institute of Biochem. & Physiol. of Microorganisms, Pushchino, Russia
Dawn Sumner - University of California, Davis
Our logistics support is being handled by ALCI: http://www.antarctic-company.com/alci.htm
And we are working with the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute in St. Petersburg, Russia: http://www.aari.aq/default_en.html
Major funding for this project has been provided by the Robert A. Pritzker Center for Meteoritics and Polar Studies and the Trottier Family Foundation.
Additional support has been provided by the Russian Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute, St.Petersburg, Russia, the Von Braun Center, Huntsville, AL; NASA, and the Carl Sagan Center for the Study of Life in the Universe, SETI Institute, Mt. View, CA.
PLEASE HELP SUPPORT THIS RESEARCH!
https://www.teamseti.org/supportdale
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Dale T. Andersen, Ph.D.
Carl Sagan Center for the Study of Life in the Universe
189 Bernardo Ave., Suite 100
Mountain View, CA 94043
Web: http://daleandersen.seti.org
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Dale T. Andersen, Copyright 2011, All Rights Reserved